The last time Albert Pujols played defense was, unofficially, Sept. 9 during a charity Wiffle ball game at Angel Stadium with Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and a few lucky contest winners.

The veteran Angels slugger liked moving around, fielding and throwing, even with bare hands, a plastic ball and a spring in his step. He still takes pride in playing a full game, the techniques of defense and his solid work at first base, for which he won Gold Gloves in 2006 and 2010.

But since mid-August and more officially Aug. 28, when he injured his second toe on his right foot in Cleveland, Pujols, 35, has been hobbling and largely limited to serving as designated hitter.

He hasn’t played first base since Sept. 1, leaving Pujols in need of defense from some of the opposing TV broadcasters who watch the 6-foot-3 man carry his 230 pounds from the plate to first and call it like they painfully see it.

When the Angels played host to the Dodgers earlier this month, legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully had ample time to call the play-by-play, practically step-by-step as Pujols lumbered toward first on what would be a groundball out.

Scully said second baseman Chase Utley didn’t have to hurry to grab the feed from third baseman Justin Turner and relay it to first for a double play because, “Albert can’t run.”

Facing Houston last Saturday, the Astros TV crew got in its cuts, calling Pujols “a base clogger” after he laced a two-out single to right to reach first. The broadcaster must’ve figured the slow-moving Pujols would create a SigAlbert on the basepaths if the next batter were to get a hit, which didn’t happen.

Pujols’ third-inning ground out to shortstop Carlos Correa came with the commentary of “Albert Pujols just hobbling down the line. ... He (Correa) knows he has plenty of time with Albert going down the line.”

On Thursday at Minnesota, the Twins broadcasting team from Fox Sports North made a similar observation after Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe gloved a Pujols grounder, dropped it and picked it up to make the throw to first: “He’s still got plenty of time throw to first and get Pujols.”

Yes, we get it. Pujols, a 10-time All-Star and three-time NL Most Valuable Player in his 15 seasons, is trying to run on a bottom half that has seen better days. No need for Statcast if you have a sundial.

Give him credit for getting out there, pain and all. He can change a game with one powerful swing. And if it’s a home run – he hit his 35th of the season, 555th of his career, on Sept. 2 at Oakland – he has enough leg to get around the bases.

“I’d trade anyone for new legs,” Pujols joked last month. “But I want to keep playing, so I go out there, try to get a hit, help my team. You’d have to cut my legs off to keep me from going.”

Especially now, these final games carry so much weight.

But is this the Pujols the Angels are going to see for the rest of his career? Through the 2021 season when Pujols will be 40?

The Twins’ Torii Hunter, 40, a former Angel, has beaten back age. In Thursday’s game, he motored from second to score on Eduardo Escobar single in the third inning. Hunter rocketed out of right field to make a sliding catch on Pujols’ pop fly in foul territory in the sixth.

Pujols started off this season healthy, looking more like the Pujols of old rather than old Pujols. He was hitting .255/.323/.532 with 26 homers at the All-Star break.

He played first base in 95 games, had a .994 fielding percentage, committed five errors and had a hand in turning 57 double plays.

Then Pujols’ wheels came off, making him a slower-moving target for the double play. Going into today’s rainout-induced day-night doubleheader against the Twins, he was batting .215/.267/.369 since the break and just .148 in his past 15 games.

He has relied on his legs for his power. He was slowed by knee and foot injuries in 2012 and 2013. Now the bottom has dropped out again, keeping him off first in more ways than one.

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